Tag: Punjabi

This dish represents the way that Okra is served in many parts of Delhi and also in the Punjab, Bengal and other parts of North India. Okra are cooked with a caramelised onion paste, and the success of the dish depends on the onion paste being cooked to the right depth and consistency. Then tomato puree is added with spices to make a delicious sauce.

This dish comes via inspiration from Madhur Jaffrey, and like all of her dishes, it is very successful. The okra are meltingly tender, and the sauce coats them beautifully.

Toor Dal is a lentil much loved all over India, from the Sambars of Tamil Nadu and other parts of South India, to the Aamti variation of the Maharashtrian Varan, to the Dal Tadka of the Punjab. And no wonder. The creamy, flowing texture and interesting flavour of the dal makes it a favourite with many.

The Punjab is full of wonderful dals, from Dal Makhani to Amritsari Dal. But nothing really beats the simplicity of Dal Tadka. In the same way that Varan is loved by the Maharashtrians, and Neiyyum Parippum is loved by the Keralites, this simple dal dish has a strong appeal. It is made with toor dal and generously spiced with a tadka of black mustard seeds, garlic, chilli and cumin.

Toor Dal is famous world wide. Easy and cheap to make, it became a favourite of restaurateurs, so was introduced early to restaurant-goers in other parts of the world. It goes so well with rice and an array of Indian flat breads. Jeera rice is particularly nice with it.

Achari dishes are so-called because they use the same set of spices that are commonly used in pickles (achar) in North India. Achari can refer to almost any ingredient – mushrooms, eggplant, paneer, okra, potatoes, and more. The recipes are more or less the same for the different ingredients. Today we are making Achari Mushrooms.

Spices are roasted and ground to a powder to make an Achari Masala, the spice mix common to the Achari dishes and also to pickles. A tomato gravy is made with the spices and the mushrooms are briefly simmered in the gravy.

It has been a while since I posted an Urad recipe. Urad is one of my favourite lentils, comforting and nourishing, and used a lot in the Punjab region. It is easy to cook with, especially if you know and respect its properties.

This dish is a cousin of Dal Makhani, using yoghurt instead of butter and cream, and whole urad rather than split urad dal.

And what a stunner! This is a slow cooked dish – taking around 5 hours – but they are effortless hours. No need to do more than the odd stir or two.

Bharta are North Indian (Punjabi) dishes where the main ingredient is roasted and then pureed with spices. The flavours are intensified by the roasting and the resulting dish is spicy and tangy. A commonly known bharta is Baingan Bharta (Eggplant Bharta).

This recipe uses tomatoes and it is amazing. It is great as a dip, served over rice, used as a sauce, or as an accompaniment to any curry. It can be served with dal-rice, kitchari or stuffed parathas. It also goes well with Chapatti, Roti. It has the best taste!

If I wasn’t such a fan of South Indian food, culture, arts, music, temples, rituals and everything else that is predominately from Tamil Nadu, I might have fallen in love with the Punjab. Punjabi food is wholesome and full of rustic flavour. The custom of cooking in community ovens or tandoors can still be found in rural areas even today. The cuisine is characterised by a profusion of dairy products in the form of malai (cream), paneer and dahi (yoghurt). And also the dals are a speciality of Punjabi cuisine, made of whole pulses like black gram (urad), green gram (mung) and Bengal gram (channa). They are cooked in covered earthen pots on a slow fire clay oven fueled with dung-cakes, often simmered for hours till they turn creamy, and then flavoured with spices and rounded off with cream and butter for that rich finish. The food is simply delicious. Thanks to Sanjeev Kapoor for part of this information.

Urad lentils are favourites in the Punjabi cuisine, and take so well to the long slow cooking. This dish is soothing and gentle, despite the large amounts of garlic and ginger. Their assertiveness is overcome by the long slow cooking time. The dish is generally quite mild in its spiciness.

Some time ago in Bangalore, India, I had a Dal Makhani to die for. It was just a hotel room service meal ordered at a very busy at the time, yet it made me sink back into my couch with a wonderful smile on my face – as if I had transitioned and gone to Dal Heaven.

I rang through to the kitchen and asked for the recipe. Oh what hilarity that caused in the kitchen – much laughter and giggles, and simply hours later, I received a typed up recipe from the chef at the Oberoi in Bangalore. It is the most wondrous dish, full of butter and cream and takes some time, so a dish for special occasions. Continue reading “Indian Bazaar Dal Makhani | Home Style Dal Makhani”

There are many types of wadi/vadai from all over India — this dish takes large Punjabi ones made of sundried lentils and spices (urad dal, mung dal, black pepper, cumin, chillies etc.)

The wadis add flavour, but they also add a wonderful texture to dishes, and being so dry they soak up the wettest of gravies making the dish perfectly composed with a thickness that is delectable. You can get them at your Indian Grocer, but you might like to call first and ask if they stock them. Ask for the large Punjabi Wadi. Or you can make your own!

Urad lentils are mostly used in Nth Indian dishes, and it enjoys long and slow cooking.

Most Indian lentils come in four ways:

Skinned, whole

Skinned, halved

Unhulled, whole

Unhulled, halved

and amazingly, each one has a different taste, different properties, are best for different dishes. I was out of urad (black gram) this week, and my trip to the Indian grocer yielded four different packages.

Urad dal is quite special indeed. I love it a lot. Mostly Nth Indian in style, it takes to long and slow cooking very well. For Mah ki Dal we use whole unhulled lentils.

Aachar is a spicy Indian pickle. It varies from place to place, from home to home. If you check your local Indian grocery you can see a multitude made from almost everything that you can imagine. You will have heard, no doubt, of mango pickle or lime pickle — these are very popular. But take any ingredient of the plant variety and I guarantee that there is a pickle made from it.

Quince (our hard sometimes gritty, always sourish fruit) is not well known in India, as far as I can judge. The Indian Quince is quite a different fruit altogether. But, using other recipes as a guide, I made this quince pickle that has become a family staple that we make each year.

Recently given a wealth of quinces, jam was made, quince paste too, some of these beauties, and two batches of this Quince Pickle. It is hot, sour, oily, bitter — that lovely combination of Ayurvedic tastes — and is styled after the Punjabi pickles.

Makhani is the Punjabi word for “buttery”, and this sure lives up to its name of Buttery Lentils!

One thing always guaranteed to melt the heart of everyone at your table is Dal Makhani. Boy is it good! This is one of several versions of Dal Makhani in our recipe collection. Another favourite is Nilgiri Dal Makhani – I hope that you try it too.

Makhani is the Punjabi word for “buttery”, and this sure lives up to its name of Buttery Lentils! I had this in India at the Oberoi hotel in Bangalore and it was so very very good. Along with their dosa, it was one of my first great discoveries when I began travelling to India.

Asking the Chef for the recipe, he kindly typed it out for me. It caused much hilarity in the kitchens – I am not sure whether that was because I asked for the recipe or their difficulty in translating it into English and/or into servings for 6 people when they are used to cooking for 600.

This recipe is an Indian dish where the eggplant is grilled until cooked through, and the flesh is mixed with spices. Many cuisines have recipes that treat the eggplant in similar ways but vary the ingredients. Baba Ganoush is one example.

Bharta are North Indian (Punjabi) dishes where the main ingredient is roasted and then pureed with spices. The flavours are intensified by the roasting and the resulting dish is spicy and tangy. Baingan Bharta is so popular, though, versions exist in several states of India.